Washington: US President Donald Trump held separate White House meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as Washington sought to address the ongoing war in Ukraine and tensions surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme.
The meetings took place on July 28, when both leaders were in Washington to attend the funeral of Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime supporter of US military assistance to Ukraine and a strong advocate of Israel.
During the meeting with Donald Trump, Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed for greater US support to strengthen Ukraine’s air defences against escalating Russian missile and drone attacks. Zelenskyy later said Donald Trump had agreed to provide Ukraine with licences to domestically produce Patriot interceptor missiles, although the White House did not immediately confirm the arrangement.
The Patriot missile system remains one of the few air defence platforms capable of intercepting ballistic missiles and has become a central part of Ukraine’s requests for military assistance. Zelenskyy has previously said Ukraine requires at least 25 Patriot systems to better defend its cities from Russian attacks.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy also met bipartisan members of the US Congress on July 28, shortly before the Senate approved legislation imposing sanctions on buyers of Russian oil and gas. Zelenskyy described the move as an important signal of continued international support for Ukraine.
Later on July 28, Benjamin Netanyahu met Donald Trump at the White House as relations between Washington and Jerusalem remained strained over differing approaches to Iran and regional security. Following the meeting, Donald Trump described the discussions as ‘a very good meeting,’ while Benjamin Netanyahu said both leaders shared the objective of ensuring Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons.
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